The Interview
by noenigma
Summary: Tag end to 'Heroes'. Jack's interview.


He was stiff and wooden as he took the seat to which they motioned him. He cleared his throat nervously and stared straight ahead into the camera lens as though it might strike him down if he took his eyes from it.

Bregman took pity on him. "Just relax. Try not to overthink your answers. Say the first thing that comes to your mind. We can always start over again if it's necessary."

He nodded his understanding and swallowed.

"Right then...shall we begin?" Bregman said trying not to let his misgivings come through. He hadn't been expecting much from this interview even before the colonel showed up looking like he was reporting for his own execution. Not only had the man literally had to be ordered to appear before the camera, but also he'd shown himself to be an arrogant so and so who considered himself above the process. Bregman respected his work and his dedication to his duty. He admired his courage and the quick thinking that made him able to survive out there. But, he disliked the hard-nosed, belligerent Air Force Colonel with the foul mouth and obvious distaste for him and what he was trying to do here.

Still, he'd fought and agitated for this interview. The few frames they already had (some unflattering shots of O'Neill's rump and a few more of him looking like he was about to spit on a highly ranked U.S. Senator) were destined for the scrap pile. He needed to have something to show of the man who had led Earth out into the stars. He'd known coming in he'd be lucky if the colonel gave him anything useable, but he had to try.

However, the man in front of the camera didn't look like the man Bregman had been expecting. Maybe with the right approach this wouldn't be a waste of time and film. Bregman mentally revised his interview strategy and softened his approach.

"You were special forces before coming to the SGC?"

"Yes."

"And...do you feel that prepared you for going through the StarGate?"

"Nothing can prepare you for going through the Gate," O'Neill answered with an attempt at nonchalance that failed to hide his nervousness. Bregman raised an eyebrow in surprise. Wow...an answer consisting of more than one syllable. More than that, one that rang true and would make a very effective sound bite. Yes, this just might not be the total failure he'd anticipated.

"Right. So...what have you run into out there that you felt the most unprepared for? What surprised you the most?" He'd spent a lot of time in journalism classes hearing that you should never ask a question for which you didn't know the answer. But, not only had he found that that made for a rather stilted and boring interview, in this particular case...it was impossible. The man sitting before him had seen and experienced things that were beyond anyone's comprehension, his own included.

He didn't expect Colonel O'Neill to wax philosophical on the wonders of galactic exploration and the excitement of discovery, but you never knew. He wanted to know how far the colonel might be willing to lead him into the unknown.

Jack O'Neill stared at the camera with his mind running at close to light speed. General Hammond had advised him, "Stick with the truth if you can. The camera will catch every lie." Carter had told him, "Whatever you do, Sir, don't clam up. They'll make you do it all over again."

Their advice on top of Bregman's 'say the first thing that comes to your mind' had to be the worst possible counsel anyone could have given him. Because the first truthful answer that came to his mind was, "I wasn't prepared to fall in love with my second in command. She is the most surprising and amazing thing I've found out there." And that was one answer he absolutely, one hundred percent, was not going to utter.

He probably should not have come to this interview fresh from sitting next to her in the morning briefing. Nope. He should have scheduled it after Daniel's sure-to-not-be-exciting presentation on 'Ancient Architecture and What We Can Learn from It' coming up this afternoon.

Only, of course, he would have sat next to her there, too, and would have left it with her dominating his thoughts just as he had the morning briefing. It was getting harder and harder to keep things in that room.

"Colonel?" Bregman said, and O'Neill thought faster because the last thing he wanted to have to do was sit through this a second time.

He licked his lips and said, "That human nature is the same wherever you find it. I didn't expect to find the people out there to be...so much like us."

"That's good...that's good," Bregman murmured. "So, you don't find the aliens you've encountered out there...alien?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that. I've seen some pretty strange stuff, but in the end, down deep...we're all human-most of us anyway."

"I guess you've had more opportunity to know that than even most of the SGC personnel. You've actually been a host to a Tok'ra at one point, isn't that correct?"

The colonel swallowed. "Yes."

"And how was that?"

"Just peachy."

"Do I sense a little resistance to this line of questioning, Colonel?"

"I don't talk about the Tok'ra. Find something else." Bregman frowned. He'd lost the reluctant but cooperative man he'd been interviewing and found the O'Neill he'd been chasing around the base since he'd arrived. Not good. Not good at all.

"All right. I didn't...I mean they are our allie-" he stopped his chatter when the colonel narrowed his eyes at him. "Right. Right. Let's...let's back up a bit, shall we? You said we're all human...deep down. Is that why you're able to keep going out there mission after mission? I mean, let's face it, what you do...it's not for the faint-hearted."

"I don't understand what you're asking. I keep going out there because that's what my orders read."

"So, that's all this is to you? Just another posting? They could just as easily send you to Iraq or Afghanistan?" Bregman didn't believe it.

"I'm a military man. I go where I'm sent," O'Neill answered. Bregman's skepticism stirred up his antagonism and made his words clipped and harsh.

Colonel Tom Rondel, the liaison, spoke up, "Sir, I'm sure Mr. Bregman wasn't questioning your loyalty. I think he just wants to know if going through the Gate isn't important to you?"

Bregman nodded his thanks to the Air Force man and said, "That's...uh right. Let me just rephrase the question, all right? Okay. Colonel, what is it that keeps you going through that Gate?"

O'Neil rocked his body slightly back and forth and sighed. Bregman suddenly realized that the last few minutes had been a smokescreen...perhaps one the colonel had thrown up unintentionally. Something in the question hit close to something that the man was reluctant to put into words. The journalist leaned forward. This would be good. This answer, whatever it was, would make the final cut.

"I...we go through the Gate because it's important. To us here and to those people out there. We Americans...we have so much. So much to lose if we don't hold the line out there. And so much to give to those folks out there who...uh...who have nothing. No freedom, no hope, nada. They have no protection against the forces out there-the Goa'uld or anyone else. They're on their own unless folks like us and the Asgard and the Nox stand up and fight for them...without us, they don't have a chance.

"I think every world...well, practically every world, has something worth...loving. Worth fighting for."

"And what is worth fighting for, Colonel?"

"I can't...I don't know how to put that into words."

"Try."

"Okay. People, freedom...from slavery, from oppression, from waking up every morning knowing that today someone might take you from your home or loved ones and you'll never see them again. Things like that."

"You said people. And earlier you said the people you've met out there...have the same needs and desires as we do."

"I did."

"So, what people are you fighting for...specifically? When you gear up and take up your weapon, who are you fighting for?"

"Us. Definitely us," he said with a smile that didn't hide the fact from Bregman that this was another one he didn't know how to put into words. "And...the good guys-we hope. Sometimes, it's hard to know who's who."

"Such as?"

"Such as the Jaffa. Strictly speaking they are the enemy...when the ships start firing-it's usually a Jaffa at the weapons control. Eight times out of ten, when we bring someone back in a body bag...a Jaffa was on the end of the staff weapon that killed them. But, they aren't the enemy. The Jaffa are among the most oppressed people in the entire universe."

"You fight them though."

"Oh yeah, fight them. Kill them. We don't have much choice in the matter. But they don't either...that's what you've got to remember."

"You're saying you are fighting the people for whom you are fighting."

"I guess I am."

"As you said that can get kind of confusing out there."

"Yeah."

"So, how do you determine who's who?"

He shook his head. "That's not for me to decide. The folks back here make that call."

"But, when there isn't time to check with the generals and the folks back here...how do you decide?"

"That's when I go with my gut, and then I listen to how loudly Teal'c and Daniel and Carter yell about what I'm up to so I can decide where to go from there."

"You're joking? You're not joking?"

"I'm the commanding officer out there...but I have to trust my team. They're good people. They've each got their own strengths and areas of expertise and I depend on their insight and advice to guide me in making command decisions on the field.

"Teal'c's been in this fight way longer than I have. He understands the politics of the galaxy, knows Goa'uld strategy, and has close to a hundred years battle experience on me...I'd be a pretty stupid man, if I didn't look to him for advice out there.

"And Carter? The woman's a genius. I'd be a fool to not put all those brains to use. And she's an exemplary soldier...you don't want to play chess with her, let me tell you."

"And Dr. Jackson?"

O'Neill let a small, indulgent smile sneak through for an instant as he thought that one over. There had been up to this point a certain sense of humor behind O'Neill's assessment of his team. There'd been truth in his statements, and there was no doubt that the colonel truly did value his teammates. But, Bregman thought when it came down to making life and death decisions out on the field the big Jaffa and the brilliant Major stood pretty squarely behind their commanding officer. He made the decisions and like it or not they obeyed them...that was after all what soldiers did, right?

But the civilian on SG-1? When it came time for the colonel to explain his worth on the team, the humor faded away and it became apparent that the trained soldier held the archeologist in high regard.

"Daniel...almost as brilliant as Carter I'd say. But not an ounce of common sense in his body. We'll be going in low and quiet, and he'll stand up and do the whole 'Hi, nice to meet you. You really aren't going to kill us, are you?' thing. He's got serious trust issues...he's got way too much of it.

"But...he's a good man. When he starts complaining about how I'm calling a certain situation, I listen. He's an idealist and it's not always possible to do things his way and get everyone out alive and unharmed, but...I wish it were." O'Neill stopped and scowled over at Bregman aware that he'd opened up far more than he deemed wise.

Bregman looked away to avoid letting the man know just how much his words had revealed to the camera. He shuffled through his notes once more to let things settle before he moved on to his next question.

"Some would argue that the cost of our involvement, not only financially but in lives as well, is too high. That we aren't getting the return for our money."

"I'm sure they would."

"But, you don't agree?"

"No." Bregman sat back. He'd pushed that one as far as it would give. But that was okay. He'd gotten more goods than he'd bargained for and he knew it. O'Neill was on the verge of clamming up for good, and Bregman wasn't willing to push him over that line any sooner than necessary.

Time for something lighter. "I'm curious, you've been at this...a long time. You've seen some pretty strange stuff as you said. Of all the worlds you've visited have there been any you found it hard to leave?"

"Sure."

"And?"

O'Neill squirmed in his seat, and Bregman could tell he'd hit another rich vein if he could only mine it. That wasn't happening he saw as the colonel relaxed (as far as he was likely to in front of the camera anyway), and Bregman knew he'd found a way to squirm out of giving an answer that would be worth printing.

"Earth," O'Neill said and gave a winning smile to the camera. The men in the room all smiled with him. Except Bregman, but he could just be disappointed in that line of questioning. He'd left Laira and her world behind with great reluctance but he had no intention of laying that out in front of the camera.

And the other world that came to mind...nope, he wasn't going there. Not that anyone in their right mind would believe he'd almost wept when he'd been forced to leave the dirty, overcrowded, smelly, underground warrens of P3R-118. But then it hadn't been the planet he hadn't wanted to leave behind but the woman he'd been free to love there as well. Not the woman; Carter had come back with him. But the circumstances that had made it ok for him to love her there.

"Really," he said just to make Bregman think he wasn't being purposely obstructionist. "There's not a world out there that has anything on Earth."

"So when you're out there and things aren't looking so good...and I've read the mission files and know it happens-relatively frequently, in fact, it's the love of Earth that keeps you going? That stops you from giving up?"

"I don't give up out there because I'm not going to give the Goa'uld or the Replicators or any other of the bad guys we've run into the satisfaction."

Bregman blinked at him. "Really? Hmmm...so...um-hmm, I don't have one for that," he admitted with a small, self-deprecatory laugh.

"I'm not kidding you," O'Neill said. "Sheer cussedness...that's what keeps me going." And that used to be true enough, maybe...maybe not even then. There'd been youth and naiveté once, the foolish belief that life was good and worth the living. Then there'd been Sarah and Charlie and the need to make it back so that they at least could still believe in that life; and now there was Carter and Daniel and all the folks depending on him to give them a shot at that good life he used to believe in. And the time in between? He wasn't going there, not for Bregman and not for himself.

"Oh...I believe you, Colonel. But, it doesn't really fit in with the theme of the film, if you know what I mean."

"Hammond told me to tell the truth...what you do with it is up to you."

"Right. And I appreciate that...so let's keep it rolling. Of all the places you've visited-offworld, that is-which has been the one you were the happiest to leave?"

O'Neill frowned at him. "The worst," he said, his mouth pursing in thought. "I...I don't know. There have been a few certainly. Um...any that Niirti ever set foot on for starters," he said with an exaggerated shudder. "There's that planet where they drowned Teal'c for a witch. Hathor's planet. Kelowna-Jonas'planet. Nantu...that's a moon actually-or was before the Tok'ra blew it up..." he raised his hands to say that was probably all that were going to come to mind at such short notice, but then at the last moment grimaced and said, "Baal's fortress."

"Care to elaborate on any of those?" Bregman said, leafing through the piles of notes and reports next to him looking for information about the places the colonel had mentioned. O'Neill apparently didn't go with the standard planet designations which left Bregman floundering around tying the colonel's list to his notes.

"Not really," O'Neill said with a grin, but relented enough to say, "They're all Goa'uld worlds-or installations, anyway. Well, with the exception of Jonas' planet...that one's pretty self-explanatory-we lost Daniel there a few years back."

"Jonas? The alien who served with SG-1 while Dr. Jackson was ascended?"

"That's him."

"So, actually, SG-1, your team, is the only..uh...team with alien participation isn't it?"

O'Neill thought a moment before answering. "Field team anyway. We've got one or two on the science team. But, basically, most of the aliens that follow us home, don't settle in for the long term." He shrugged. "Their lives are pretty restricted...we can't exactly turn them loose on the streets after all. Most of them prefer to be relocated to a planet where they can live openly."

Bregman toyed with following that line awhile, but he hadn't been happy with the results of doing that with the other members of SG-1. Instead he asked, "So what about those other planets-places? What makes them memorably worse than the hundreds of others you've visited?"

He'd thought that question had been bound to turn up which is why he'd opened himself up with Baal's fortress. Easier to explain that one than the others. "Baal's fortress? The man's a sadist and I spent a bit too long as his guest there awhile back. Definitely not my favorite vacation spot."

And that was that. The colonel nodded his head at the camera and stood up. "There's your ten minutes, Mr. Bregman. I'm out of here, and I might add that of all the places I've visited on planet...this particular point in time hasn't been a highpoint." And with that he stalked off without waiting for the reporter's stammered response.


End file.
